SCM – It’s All About Data
The volume, variety and velocity of business and supply chain data are increasing dramatically. At the same time, improved technologies, such as artificial intelligence and machine learning, are already on the horizon. Ernst & Young has recently published an interesting report, titled Digital Supply Chain: It’s All About That Data. The authors make one thing very clear: “Companies must act now to focus, simplify and standardize big data through an enterprise data management strategy.” If companies fail to do so, the authors argue, “technology will drive increasing data cost, complexity and inefficiency; companies will be unable to benefit from advanced analytics like machine learning; and they will be unprepared for the next wave of data growth triggered by new technologies like IoT and blockchain.” In other words, companies fail to be successful unless they become masters of their supply chain data. Maybe business schools should increase the proportion of IT knowledge in their SCM curricula?
Frequency of “Supply Chain” in Books
The following Google Ngram Viewer graph shows the frequency of the terms “supply chain”, “logistics” and “procurement” in books published between 1975 and 2008. It turns out that the use of the term “supply chain” accelerated in the late 1990s and overtook “logistics” in 2007. We can only speculate about the current use, as Google’s database ends in 2008.
The More Trust the Better! Really?
We certainly all agree: Trust between supply chain partners has a lot of benefits. However, in their interesting study of trust in the buyer–supplier relationship, Villena and her co-authors argue that there is a “duality of trust”: Trust has benefits but it can also become dysfunctional if it is excessive. The results of their study show “that trust follows an inverted-U shape with performance”, i.e., at a certain point the negative effects offset the benefits of trust and performance declines. The authors also show that “[t]rust’s negative effects are more severe for those buyers that are highly dependent and operate in stable markets”. But why could trust ever be harmful? Well, trust might create “blind faith” into a supplier when the buyer is too optimistic. Another explanation could be that buyers might avoid tensions with suppliers that they otherwise trust – even if they observe declining performance. Trust can also increase reliance and unnecessary obligations that constrain the buyer.
Villena, V.H., Choi, T.Y., & Revilla, E. (2016). Revisiting Interorganizational Trust: Is More Always Better or Could More Be Worse? Journal of Management. https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206316680031
